Local Enhancement of Large Scanned Documents

ABSTRACT

Enhancing image quality of an initial full image of a document includes subdividing the initial full image of the document into a number of segments, determining at least one of the segments for enhancement, directing a user to take photographs with a smartphone to provide a separate segment image for the at least one of the segments by presenting on a screen of the smartphone a view of the document having lines superimposed thereon corresponding to the segments, and merging the separate segment image to provide an enhanced full image. The number of segments may depend upon a size of text in the initial full image and a desired height of text in the enhanced full image. The view of the document having lines superimposed thereon corresponding to the segments may provide a target to the user for photographing the at least one of the segments.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/967,462, filed on Dec. 14, 2015, entitled“Matrix Capture of Large Scanned Documents,” which claims priority toU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/093,025, filed on Dec. 17, 2014,entitled “Matrix Capture of Large Scanned Documents,” both of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application is directed to the field of capturing, analyzing andmanaging information and a graphical user interface, and moreparticularly to the field of capturing, analyzing and managinginformation and a graphical user interface in connection with obtainingand processing photographic images of documents.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile phones with digital cameras are dominating worldwide phoneshipments. Total 2014 sales of phone cameras to mobile phonemanufacturers for embedding into smartphones and feature phones slightlyexceeded 1.5 billion units. According to market statistics andforecasts, by 2018, annual smartphone shipments are expected to grow to1.87 billion units; around 83% of all phones will be arriving to ownerswith embedded digital cameras. These shipments will expand the currentaudience of approximately 6.7 billion mobile subscribers and 4.3 billionunique mobile phone users and will update mobile phones currently usedby the subscribers.

Volumes of photographs taken with phone cameras are also growingrapidly. According to Pew Research, photographing with phone cameras isthe single most popular activity of smartphone owners and is utilized by82% of users, compared with 80% for the second most popular activity,texting. Recent studies show that about 27% of all photos have beentaken with smartphones. Volumes of photographic images taken withsmartphones and posted on social photo sharing sites have alreadyexceeded the cumulative size of photographs taken with any otherequipment.

Hundreds of millions of smartphone users are combining their everydaydigital lifestyles with paper habits in their business offices andhomes. Paper documents continue to play a significant role in theeveryday information flow of individuals, households, and especiallybusiness users. The role of digitizing and capturing paper basedinformation has increased with the arrival of unified multi-platformcontent management systems capable of capturing, storing, displaying andmodifying information across all user devices, such as the Evernoteservice and software developed by Evernote Corporation of Redwood City,Calif. Many types of paper documents benefit from being captureddigitally and being made available in electronic document formats. Thesedocuments include pages from books and magazines, printed newspaperarticles, receipts, invoices, checks, tax and other forms, printedreports, business cards, handwritten notes and memos on legal pads,specialized Moleskine® notebooks or on sticky notes or easels, and manyother types of printed and handwritten documents.

Modern scanners offer solutions for some of the growing informationcapturing needs. Thus, unit volumes of mobile scanners are expected togrow from approximately one million to two million in the next fiveyears. However, the mobile lifestyle of workforce and consumers oftenrequires capturing documents or portions thereof under random conditionswhere users may not have access to an office or home scanner.Additionally, compact document scanners, as well as regular flatbedscanners, may not be able, to provide quality capturing of some types ofdocuments, such as book or magazine pages.

The aforementioned market requirements and usage restrictions areincreasingly stimulating a development of smartphone based documentcapturing solutions, such as remote check deposit software integratedwith online banking systems, the Scannable software application foriPhone and iPad by Evernote or by Mobile Capture Solutions for Life byABBYY Software Ltd. A new breed of document capturing applicationsincludes advanced algorithms for lighting, color and shape corrections,page border detection, contrast optimization, noise removal and otherfeatures aimed at creating optimized images of photographed documentsnearing scan quality.

Notwithstanding a significant progress in building phone camera scanningapplications, this category of document capturing software still facessignificant challenges; one of the most important tasks is reproducinglegible text and drawings when photographing larger document pages orwhiteboards when a single photo from distance conflicts with the cameraresolution and leaves text size and other page elements too small andillegible for a user.

Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to provide document capturingwith phone cameras that improves legibility of captured text anddrawings and possesses an intuitive user interface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the system described herein, enhancing image quality of aninitial full image of a document includes subdividing the initial fullimage of the document into a number of segments, directing a user totake photographs with a smartphone to provide a separate segment imagefor each of the segments by presenting on a screen of the smartphone aview of the document having lines superimposed thereon corresponding tothe segments, and merging the separate segment images to provide anenhanced full image. The number of segments may depend upon a size oftext in the initial full image and a desired height of text in theenhanced full image. The document may be a page from a book, a page froma magazine, a printed newspaper article, a receipt, an invoice, a check,a tax form or other form, a printed report, one or more business cards,a handwritten note, a memo on a legal pad, a page from a specializedMoleskine® notebook, a specialized Moleskine® sticky note, or an easel.The initial full image may be provided by a photograph taken by the userwith the smartphone. The view of the document having lines superimposedthereon corresponding to the segments may provide a target to the userfor photographing the segments. In response to the user successfullyphotographing a particular segment, a visual indicator may be providedon the particular segment in the view of the document having linessuperimposed thereon corresponding to the segments. Instructions forphotographing non-captured segments may be provided to the user on thescreen of the smartphone. The instructions may include an arrowindicating a recommended next one of the segments to photograph and arecommended navigation path across non-captured segments. In response toa user photographing a particular segment that is not the recommendednext one of the segments, the navigation path may be adjusted. Inresponse to a user photographing a particular segment that is not therecommended next one of the segments, the user may be provided with anoption to delete the segment image corresponding to the particularsegment. In response to a user photographing a particular segment thatis not the recommended next one of the segments, the user may beprovided with an option to indicate that the corresponding segment imageis for a different segment in the view of the document having linessuperimposed thereon corresponding to the segments. The smartphone mayautomatically detects which of the segments has been photographed by theuser. A captured image may be automatically deleted in response to aquality of the image being relatively low. A user may be provided withan option to delete an image in response to obstructions being detectedin the image. The smartphone may include software that is pre-loadedwith the smartphone, software that is installed from an app store,software that is installed from a desktop, software that is installedfrom media, and/or software that is downloaded from a Web site. Thesmartphone may use an operating system selected from the groupconsisting of: iOS, Android OS, Windows Phone OS, Blackberry OS andmobile versions of Linux OS.

According further to the system described herein, a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium contains software that enhances image qualityof an initial full image of a document. The software includes executablecode that subdivides the initial full image of the document into anumber of segments, executable code that directs a user to takephotographs with a smartphone to provide a separate segment image foreach of the segments by presenting on a screen of the smartphone a viewof the document having lines superimposed thereon corresponding to thesegments, and executable code that merges the separate segment images toprovide an enhanced full image. The number of segments may depend upon asize of text in the initial full image and a desired height of text inthe enhanced full image. The document may be a page from a book, a pagefrom a magazine, a printed newspaper article, a receipt, an invoice, acheck, a tax form or other form, a printed report, one or more businesscards, a handwritten note, a memo on a legal pad, a page from aspecialized Moleskine® notebook, a specialized Moleskine® sticky note,or an easel. The initial full image may be provided by a photographtaken by the user with the smartphone. The view of the document havinglines superimposed thereon corresponding to the segments may provide atarget to the user for photographing the segments. In response to theuser successfully photographing a particular segment, a visual indicatormay be provided on the particular segment in the view of the documenthaving lines superimposed thereon corresponding to the segments.Instructions for photographing non-captured segments may be provided tothe user on the screen of the smartphone. The instructions may includean arrow indicating a recommended next one of the segments to photographand a recommended navigation path across non-captured segments. Inresponse to a user photographing a particular segment that is not therecommended next one of the segments, the navigation path may beadjusted. In response to a user photographing a particular segment thatis not the recommended next one of the segments, the user may beprovided with an option to delete the segment image corresponding to theparticular segment. In response to a user photographing a particularsegment that is not the recommended next one of the segments, the usermay be provided with an option to indicate that the correspondingsegment image is for a different segment in the view of the documenthaving lines superimposed thereon corresponding to the segments. Thesmartphone may automatically detects which of the segments has beenphotographed by the user. A captured image may be automatically deletedin response to a quality of the image being relatively low. A user maybe provided with an option to delete an image in response toobstructions being detected in the image. The smartphone may includesoftware that is pre-loaded with the smartphone, software that isinstalled from an app store, software that is installed from a desktop,software that is installed from media, and/or software that isdownloaded from a Web site. The smartphone may use an operating systemselected from the group consisting of: iOS, Android OS, Windows PhoneOS, Blackberry OS and mobile versions of Linux OS.

The proposed system offers a matrix style capture of large documentswith a phone camera, whereby portions of a document page are eachcaptured from a closer distance; the System builds the capturing matrixbased on a preliminary full-page photograph made by a user. The systemkeeps track of captured page fragments, directs the user through anoptimal capturing sequence, making sure that no parts of the page areomitted, and merges captured fragments into a single page image after amatrix capture session is completed, eliminating overlaps between thefragments.

When a user is tasked with taking a quality photograph of a large formatdocument page, an easel, a whiteboard or other media with a cameraphone, the system may advise the user to start capturing by taking asingle photograph from a sufficient distance for the whole document tofit a single image. The system may then detect page borders, retrievethe page, correct the document geometrically, including perspectivecorrection, dewarping and other mechanisms. Subsequently, the system mayretrieve page or other content and split the content into text lines,paragraphs and drawings. Based on the retrieved information, the systemmay estimate the size of text as viewed by the user on the photographedimage using known algorithms.

If a significant amount of text detected on the new image has a smallersize (for example, by letter height) than a predefined size or a sizesuggested by the user for readability threshold, the system mayrecommend re-capturing a page image via a matrix capture method wheremultiple close-up photos of page fragments may be taken. The system maydesign the matrix based on a magnifying factor which may be calculated,for example, as a ratio of a minimal predefined size of legible text(which may depend on camera parameters) to an actual size of textretrieved from the above full page image. Thus, for example, if theratio is 3.5, the system may use the 4× magnification; accordingly, thesystem may recommend capturing of four images corresponding to quadrantsof the page. In this case, the system may be building a 2×2 capturingmatrix; in another example, where the magnifying factor is 5.7, thesystem may use a 6× magnification and design a 2×3 matrix arranged onthe page in such way that the fragments (cells) of the matrix are closerto squares.

The system may display the matrix on top of the original full page imageand may display instructions to the user requesting capture of eachfragment via a separate shot. When the user moves the camera closer tothe document to take a photo of a fragment, the visualized matrix mayserve as a target grid to assist the user in focusing the camera inorder to capture each cell in such manner that the gridlines and pageborders (for corner or side cells of the page) are as close to the outerboundaries of the camera preview window as possible, optimally fittingthe cell into the camera shot. Alternatively, the system may display thecapturing matrix once, without showing it in the view window, and mayfurther direct the user to capture fragments of the page according tothe matrix.

As fragments of the page are photographed by the user, the system maykeep track of the captured area and may dynamically merge the capturedimages of page fragments into an enlarged image of the page. The systemmay refrain from displaying the partially filled enlarged image to theuser in order to avoid holding up the capturing process.

After capturing a new fragment is completed, the system may display tothe user the status of the matrix capturing process by displaying thematrix with the following clues:

-   -   (i) checked out or otherwise marked fragments (cells of the        matrix) that have already been captured; and    -   (ii) instructions on capturing the rest of the fragments.

As an example of a matrix capturing instruction, a fragment recommendedfor immediate capturing may be pointed to by a bold arrow starting at ajust completed fragment or may otherwise be highlighted, while the restof the trajectory across the matrix to take photos of yet uncapturedfragments may be shown by dashed or color coded arrows or lines. If auser deviates from instructions while navigating through the capturingmatrix, the system may recalculate the trajectory and display an updatedset of instructions.

Some of the sequentially captured fragments may have detectable defects,such as obstruction by alien objects, wrong view angles, significantdeviations from the prescribed capturing distance (which may distort thesize of the captured fragment compared to a desired size), suddenchanges in lighting conditions, causing glare and reflections, etc. Whencaptured fragments have detectable defects, the system may reject aphotograph and display to the user additional instructions and a requestto re-capture the fragment.

A user may occasionally capture a wrong fragment (cell) of the capturingmatrix instead of a fragment suggested by the system. If an image of anewly captured fragment otherwise has a sufficient quality (as opposedto having relatively low quality, which was discussed in the previousparagraph), the system may utilize different automatic, semi-automaticand manual techniques to fix such capturing errors and recalculateinstructions provided to the user. Some of these techniques arepresented below. These techniques rely on the presence of a startingfull-page (full-surface, full-object) photograph, as explained elsewhereherein). The full-page photograph is used by the system to build thematrix capturing grid; therefore, the system starts with low qualityimages of each fragment. The initial low resolution fragments may beused for identifying a newly captured fragment; the system may scaledown the new fragment and map the new fragment on the low resolutionfragment images defined by the matrix grid, attempting to identify thelatest fragment captured by the user. There can be several possibleoutcomes of such identification attempt:

-   -   1. Correct fragment. In case the system has reliably identified        that the newly captured fragment as a fragment suggested by the        system, the fragment may be checked out from the matrix and the        system may continue with the next step of its instructions to        invite the user to capture a next fragment or to finalize the        matrix capturing session if no more uncaptured fragments are        left.    -   2. Double capturing. If the fragment has been already captured,        the system may ignore the latest captured fragment (because the        system already has a quality image of the fragment, as explained        elsewhere herein), notify the user that the fragment has been        double-captured and may reiterate the unchanged existing        instruction on the next fragment recommended for capturing. In        some cases, the system may compare quality of the two fragments        and discard the fragment of lower quality.    -   3. Wrong fragment identified. If the identified fragment has        been identified by the system on the capturing matrix and has        not been previously captured, but is different from the        recommended fragment, the system may check out the fragment from        the matrix, add the fragment to an interim enlarged        multi-fragment page image and recalculate the remaining portion        of the capturing trajectory based on a new configuration of        captured set of fragments. Subsequently, the next recommended        fragment may be different from the one suggested by the system        before the user made a capturing error.    -   4. Wrong fragment detected but not identified. The system may        detect a capturing error if there is a reliable determination        that a newly captured fragment is not the recommended fragment        suggested by the instructions; however, the system may be unable        to identify exactly which fragment has been actually captured        based on a low resolution comparison. In such a case, the system        may switch to a semi-automatic mode, display an error message to        the user and ask the user to identify the newly captured        fragment on the matrix. Direct pointing to the captured fragment        in the matrix display, buttons to provide matrix row/column        coordinates and other mechanisms of addressing the segment may        be used. In some embodiments, the system may also offer a Delete        or Undo/Redo option to negate the most recent capturing step or        several steps if the user has decided, for example, to strictly        follow system instructions and does not want to add a newly        captured wrong segment to the capturing path.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the system described herein will now be explained in moredetail in accordance with the figures of the drawings, which are brieflydescribed as follows.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a full-page photograph, accordingto an embodiment of the system described herein.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of matrix capturing, according to anembodiment of the system described herein.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a sequence for capturing pagefragments followed by matrix navigation instructions displayed by thesystem, according to an embodiment of the system described herein.

FIG. 4 is a system flow diagram illustrating matrix capturing an imagein connection with system functioning, according to an embodiment of thesystem described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

The system described herein provides a mechanism for dynamicmulti-segment capturing of content from large documents, surfaces orother objects where the system builds a capturing matrix and merges thecaptured fragments into an enlarged image, while a user is instructedabout success of each capturing step and is driven along a mostefficient capturing path.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration 100 of obtaining a full-pagephotograph taken prior to matrix capturing, as explained elsewhereherein. A smartphone 110 with an embedded camera 120 takes a full-pagephotograph of a document page 130 from a sufficient distance and viewangle to fit the whole page into the camera view. Alternatively, thecamera 120 may take a photograph of a whiteboard or any other drawingsurface or another object. Generally, the document page 130 mayrepresent a page from a book or magazine, a printed newspaper article, areceipt, an invoice, a check, a tax form or other form, a printedreport, one or more business card, a handwritten note, a memo on a legalpad, a page from a specialized Moleskine notebook, a page from aspecialized Moleskine sticky note, an easel, and/or anything that can becaptured as an image. A smartphone application 140 may display afull-page image 150, at which time the system may calculate a size ofvarious elements in the image, such as letter height for different fontsused in the document page 130, and determine, based on default or usercustomized system settings and thresholds, whether the full-page imageis sufficiently legible. Note that the assumption for full-featuredsystem functioning is that the original full-page image is insufficientfor user purposes.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration 200 of a matrix capturing step. Amatrix grid 210 shown on the document 130 has been built by the system;however, the matrix grid 210 is shown on the document 130 only for theillustration purpose, while actually the matrix grid 210 may be visiblein the camera preview window, as explained elsewhere herein. A usercaptures a fragment (matrix cell) 220 by adjusting a distance of thecamera 120 and a view angle 230 of the camera 120 embedded in thesmartphone 110 so that the fragment 220 fills the preview window of thecamera 120 (which may be part of the standard smartphone camerafunctioning or an adapted/customized view in the dedicated smartphoneapplication 140). Previously captured fragments 240 are indicated on thedocument 130 by checkmarks, also for the illustration purpose as thecamera may not project any image on an original physical document, butrather synthesize additional images on the screen of the smartphone 110.

After the fragment 220 has been captured, the system may display thefragment 220 as an image 250 in the application 140. FIG. 2 illustratesa scenario where the fragment 220 has been captured in accordance withsystem recommendations and the image 250 has a sufficient quality sothat the system may subsequently display on the screen of the smartphone110 a capturing matrix 260 with information 270 for a recently capturedfragment. The fragment 220 may be shown with a checkmark and a nextfragment recommended for capturing may be indicated by a bold arrow 280,while a remaining portion of the capturing process may be shown by adashed trajectory 290. Note that in FIG. 2 the depiction of thesmartphone application window 140 is schematic and does not show alluser interface elements, which are shown on enlarged smartphone imagesand are explained in more detail in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration 300 of a sequence of steps wherecapturing of page fragments is followed by matrix navigationinstructions displayed by the system. At a first step, the smartphoneapplication 140, implementing system functioning on a user smartphone,is used to capture the image 250 corresponding to a central fragment ofthe matrix (the cell (2,2) in the 3×3 matrix) corresponding to thefragment 220 in FIG. 2. An identifier of the current fragment (in FIG.3, 2/2 of 3/3) is presented in a header 310 of the display provided bythe application 140 on the smartphone 110, which also shows the image250.

A user interface of the application 140 may have several tools forprocess control. A pair of buttons 320 (up/down scrolling of fragmentidentifier) may be used to manually indicate fragment location in casethe user made an error and has taken a photograph of a differentfragment than a recommended fragment, as explained elsewhere herein. Forexample, pressing an upper button of the buttons 320 may display afragment identifier 2/3, the next fragment to the right of theoriginally displayed fragment 2/2, while pressing a lower of the buttons320 may show a fragment identifier 2/1, a fragment to the left of thedisplayed fragment. Alternatively, the user may directly click on thecapturing matrix 260 to point to a particular cell. A deletion button330 may allow a user to instantly exclude a current fragment beingdisplayed by the application 140, possibly because the user hadobstructed the fragment with other objects, does not want to use acaptured fragment different from the system navigation recommendations,or for other reasons.

At a second step of the sequence, the capturing matrix 260 is displayedin a current state of the capturing matrix 260 where the bold arrow 280indicates a next recommended fragment for capturing and the dashedtrajectory 290 shows the rest of recommended navigation path acrossnon-captured segments. At the next step, the user captures a recommendedsegment and receives a new image 250 a corresponding to the recommendednext segment and a notification 310 a; the image 250 a is then added bythe system to a synthesized enlarged image of the page. The systemcontinues tracing of non-captured fragments and displays to the user acurrent status 260 a of the capturing matrix 260 and process where anext recommended fragment is indicated by the bold arrow 280 and isindicated in a heading 310 b.

The user, however, makes an error and instead of the requested fragment(3, 1), the left most fragment in the bottom row 3 of the matrix,captures the middle fragment (3, 2) of the row 3, resulting in an image250 b. Several choices are available for the system and user toaccommodate the error, as explained elsewhere herein. The system mayautomatically identify which fragment has been actually captured; or theuser may manually indicate the captured fragment using the buttons 320,which is shown in a heading 310 c. The user may delete the capturedfragment to follow system instructions. However, if the image 250 b hasa sufficient quality, there may be no obvious reason for discarding thesegment, as long as the segment is correctly identified within thecapturing matrix. If the segment is retained, the system recalculates aremaining capturing path 360 starting from the just captured fragmentand displays the capturing path 360 on a revised status matrix 260 b,additionally indicating the next segment in a heading 310 d.

Referring to FIG. 4, a system flow diagram 400 illustrates processing inconnection with matrix scanning of large documents. Processing begins ata step 410 where a user takes a full page photograph of the document orother surface/object. After the step 410, processing proceeds to a teststep 415, where it is determined whether the image has a sufficientquality to avoid matrix capturing. If so, processing is complete andthere is no need for matrix capturing; otherwise, processing proceeds toa step 420, where the system builds a document for subsequent matrixcapturing, as explained in more detail elsewhere herein. After the step420, processing proceeds to a step 425, where the system displays acurrent state of a capturing matrix with the capturing instructions tothe user, as explained elsewhere herein. After the step 425, processingproceeds to a step 430 where the system assists the user in taking aclose-up photograph of a current fragment of the document.

After the step 430, processing proceeds to a step 435, where the systemattempts to identify the captured fragment using by comparing ananalogous fragment of the original full-page photograph, as explainedelsewhere herein. After the step 435, processing proceeds to a test step440 where it is determined whether the identified fragment (by thesystem or/and the user) is the same fragment that was recommended by thesystem at the step 425. If not, processing proceeds to a test step 445,where it is determined whether the captured fragment should be deletedaccording to either an explicit user request or to system rules (e.g.,the fragment cannot be identified). If so, processing proceeds to a step455 where the fragment is deleted and control is transferred back to thestep 425 without changing the capturing matrix status or the systemrecommendations to the user. Otherwise, processing proceeds to a teststep 450 (which can be independently reached from the step 440 in casethe captured fragment is the same as the recommended fragment), where itis determined whether the currently captured image has the sufficientquality. If not, processing proceeds to the previously described step455 for deletion. Otherwise, processing proceeds to a step 460, wherethe system merges the newly captured fragment image with the previouslyprocessed fragments. After the step 460, processing proceeds to a step465, where the system updates the capturing matrix by checking off thenewly captured fragment. After the step 465, processing proceeds to atest step 470 where it is determined whether all matrix cells havealready been processed, that is, whether all fragments of the page havebeen captured and added to the enlarged full image of the page, asexplained elsewhere herein. If so, processing is complete; otherwise,processing proceeds to a step 475 where the system calculates an optimalcapturing path through the updated set of uncaptured cells. After thestep 475, processing proceeds back to the step 425 for anotheriteration.

Various embodiments discussed herein may be combined with each other inappropriate combinations in connection with the system described herein.Additionally, in some instances, the order of steps in the flowcharts,flow diagrams and/or described flow processing may be modified, whereappropriate. Subsequently, elements and areas of screen described inscreen layouts may vary from the illustrations presented herein.Further, various aspects of the system described herein may beimplemented using software, hardware, a combination of software andhardware and/or other computer-implemented modules or devices having thedescribed features and performing the described functions. Thesmartphone may include software that is pre-loaded with the device,installed from an app store, installed from a desktop (after possiblybeing pre-loaded thereon), installed from media such as a CD, DVD, etc.,and/or downloaded from a Web site. The smartphone may use an operatingsystem selected from the group consisting of: iOS, Android OS, WindowsPhone OS, Blackberry OS and mobile versions of Linux OS. The smartphonemay be connected by various types of wireless and other connections,such as cellular connections in Wide Area Networks, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,NFC, USB, infrared, ultrasound and other types of connections. A mobiledevice other than a smartphone may be used. Note that the systemdescribed herein may be used with any device capable of taking aphotograph and providing appropriate feedback to a user, such as adigital camera with a screen for providing messages to the user and amechanism for providing an intermediate image stream.

Software implementations of the system described herein may includeexecutable code that is stored in a computer readable medium andexecuted by one or more processors. The computer readable medium may benon-transitory and include a computer hard drive, ROM, RAM, flashmemory, portable computer storage media such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, aflash drive, an SD card and/or other drive with, for example, auniversal serial bus (USB) interface, and/or any other appropriatetangible or non-transitory computer readable medium or computer memoryon which executable code may be stored and executed by a processor. Thesoftware may be bundled (pre-loaded), installed from an app store ordownloaded from a location of a network operator. The system describedherein may be used in connection with any appropriate operating system.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from a consideration of the specification or practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of enhancing image quality of an initialfull image of a document, comprising: subdividing the initial full imageof the document into a number of segments; determining at least one ofthe segments of the document for enhancement; generating a capturinginstruction to a user to take a photograph of the at least one of thesegments using a mobile device, wherein the photograph provides aseparate segment image for the at least one of the segments; and mergingthe separate segment image into the initial full image to provide anenhanced full image.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturinginstruction further comprises an instruction to present on a display ofthe mobile device a view of the document having lines superimposedthereon according to the segments of the document, wherein the lines areconfigured to facilitating taking the photograph.
 3. The method of claim2, further comprising: in response to obtaining the separate segmentimage corresponding to the at least one of the segments, enablingdisplay of a visual indicator on the at least one of the segments in theview of the document having the lines superimposed thereon correspondingto the segments.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining the number of segments according to at least a size of textin the initial full image and a desired height of text in the enhancedfull image.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the document is one of: apage from a book, a page from a magazine, a printed newspaper article, areceipt, an invoice, a check, a tax form or other form, a printedreport, one or more business cards, a handwritten note, a memo on alegal pad, a page from a notebook application, a sticky noteapplication, and an easel.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:enabling display of the capturing instruction on a display of the mobiledevice.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: enabling displayof an arrow for indicating a next one of the segments to photograph anda navigation path across a subset of non-captured segments, wherein thenext one of the segments follows the at least one of the segments on thenavigation path and is recommended for being captured in a secondseparate segment image.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: inresponse to a user photographing a particular segment that is distinctfrom the recommended next one of the segments, adjusting the navigationpath to include the particular segment.
 9. The method of claim 7,further comprising: in response to a user photographing a particularsegment that is distinct from the recommended next one of the segments,enabling an option to delete a segment image corresponding to theparticular segment.
 10. The method of claim 7, further comprising: inresponse to a user photographing a particular segment that is distinctfrom the recommended next one of the segments, providing an option toindicate that a segment image corresponding to the particular segment isdistinct from the next one of the segments.
 11. A computer system,comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing one or moreprograms to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or moreprograms comprising instructions for: subdividing the initial full imageof the document into a number of segments; determining at least one ofthe segments of the document for enhancement; generating a capturinginstruction to a user to take a photograph of the at least one of thesegments using a mobile device, wherein the photograph provides aseparate segment image for the at least one of the segments; and mergingthe separate segment image into the initial full image to provide anenhanced full image.
 12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein theone or more programs further comprise instructions for: determining thenumber of segments according to at least a size of text in the initialfull image and a desired height of text in the enhanced full image. 13.The computer system of claim 11, wherein the document is one of: a pagefrom a book, a page from a magazine, a printed newspaper article, areceipt, an invoice, a check, a tax form or other form, a printedreport, one or more business cards, a handwritten note, a memo on alegal pad, a page from a notebook application, a sticky noteapplication, and an easel.
 14. The computer system of claim 11, whereinthe initial full image is provided by a photograph taken by the userwith the mobile device.
 15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein theone or more programs further comprise instructions for: determining aquality of the separate segment image taken for the at least one of thesegments; and in accordance with a determination that the quality of theseparate segment image is substantially low, automatically deleting theseparate segment image.
 16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein theone or more programs further comprise instructions for: providing anoption to delete an image in response to detecting an obstructions inthe separate segment image.
 17. A non-transitory computer readablestorage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution bya computer system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:subdividing the initial full image of the document into a number ofsegments; determining at least one of the segments of the document forenhancement; generating a capturing instruction to a user to take aphotograph of the at least one of the segments using a mobile device,wherein the photograph provides a separate segment image for the atleast one of the segments; and merging the separate segment image intothe initial full image to provide an enhanced full image.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein thecapturing instruction further comprises an instruction to present on adisplay of the mobile device a view of the document having linessuperimposed thereon according to the segments of the document, whereinthe lines are configured to facilitating taking the photograph.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein theone or more programs further comprise instructions for: in response toobtaining the separate segment image corresponding to the at least oneof the segments, enabling display of a visual indicator on the at leastone of the segments in the view of the document having the linessuperimposed thereon corresponding to the segments.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein themobile device includes memory storing one or more of: a program that ispre-loaded with the mobile device, a program that is installed from anapplication store, a program that is installed from a desktop, a programthat is installed from media, and a program that is downloaded from aweb site.